Isaac Olawale Albert

His Early Life and Training

Professor Albert had his primary school education at CAC Primary School Wadata and secondary education at Tilley Gyado College in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. He took his Higher School Certificate at Ilesa Grammar School before coming to the University of Ibadan in 1982 for a BA Hons degree in History which he completed in 1985. He did his MA and PhD degrees in African History at the University of Ibadan in 1992 and 1994 respectively. In 1999, he was invited by the United Nations International Leadership Academy (Amman, Jordan) for a Certificate course in peacekeeping and conflict resolution and subsequently trained in peace processes in the United Kingdom,United States, Germany, France, Belgium, Finland, Israel, Egypt, and South Africa. He joined the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ibadan as a Junior Research Fellow in 1993 and rose through the rank to become a full Professor in 2006.

His Academic Contributions

Following the completion of his PhD in 1994 at the University of Ibadan, he started working on the history of urban violence in Africa and this led to the production of his first three co-edited books: Urban Management and Urban Violence in Africa; Urban Violence in Africa: Pilot Studies (South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria); and Informal channels for conflict resolution in Ibadan, Nigeria. He also published a sole authored book entitled Women and urban violence in Kano, Nigeria.

In 1997, his research interest shifted to the study of ethnic and religious conflicts in the context of Nigerian federalism and his co-edited books in this area included Inter-Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution in Nigeria; Community Conflicts in Nigeria: Management, Resolution and Transformation; Introduction to Third Party Intervention in Community Conflicts; Building Peace, Advancing Democracy: Third Party Intervention in Nigeria’s Conflicts; A history of social conflict and conflict management in Nigeria. He later transited to the study of security management in Africa leading to the following edited and co-edited volumes: Security, Crime and Segregation in West African Cities since the 19th Century; Perspectives on Peace and Conflict in Africa: Essays in Honour of General (Dr.) Abdulsalami Abubakar, He later isolated election as a critical security problem in Africa. This led to the publication of some edited volumes that include Animus and Apologia: Campaign Advertorials and the Gamble for Power in the 2003 and 2007 Elections in Nigeria; Democratic Elections and Nigeria’s National Security; Practice Guide for Managing Election Disputes in West Africa.

In addition to these he wrote several papers on social history of Africa focusing on issues of gender, youth development and human migrations. His publications on research methods and epistemology Research Methods in Peace and Conflict Studies; Communicating Peace and Conflict; and Knowledge economy and Nigeria’s National Security.

Following a very successful conference he organized on "Urban Management and Urban Violence in Africa" in November 1994, he was supported in 1996 by the British Council (West Africa) to initiate an academic link between the University of Ibadan and University of Ulster, Northern Ireland which led to the commencement of the MA and PhD Peace and Conflict Studies Programme of the University of Ibadan in 2000. This programme joined with other related programmes in the University in September 2015 to form the University’s Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS).

He teaches "Theories and Analysis of Conflict, Peace and Security" on the three MA Security Studies courses run by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana. At various times, he also served as a resource person to the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA, Dakar,Senegal); the West African Peacebuilding Institute (WAPI); the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, The Presidency, Abuja, Nigeria; the National Defence College, Abuja, and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Abuja.

Books

Memberships and Associations

He founded and was the Pioneer Director of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin in 2008. He was also the UNDP (Accra, Ghana) Consultant for the establishment of the MA Peace and Development Studies course of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana in 2006.

Professor Albert’s scholarship revolved around three key issues to which he strictly committed himself. The first is to promote the use of historical methods for studying peace and security issues. The second is to develop peace and security scholarship in Africa in the context of the continent’s mantra of "African solutions to African problems". The third is to produce Afrocentric literature for promoting peace scholarship in Africa. He is widely recognized as a security historian.

He is a member of several learned and professional associations. These include the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (Finland), Ethnic Studies Network (Northern Ireland), Nigeria Field Society, and African Association of Political Science. He is a member of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law ; a Fellow and current Board Chairman of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC); the Regional Board Chairman of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (Accra, Ghana) and an Associate Member of the Finnish Folklore Fellows (Helsinki). He is a consultant to several international development organisations doing peace related works in Africa.